Maye Gives Auburn Visit A Thumbs Up

Jason Caldwell

03/30/2011

Safety prospect Marcus Maye talks about his visit to Auburn on Wednesday.

Melbourne, Fla.--Rated a three-star safety by Scout.com, Holy Trinity standout Marcus Maye took visits to Auburn and Alabama the last two days and says both the Tigers and the Crimson Tide are on his list of favorites as he heads into the summer before his senior year.

Visiting Auburn on Wednesday, the 6-1, 190 Maye said that he enjoyed having the opportunity to sit down and talk with coach Gene Chizik and safety coach Tommy Thigpen as well as see what the Auburn campus is all about.

"We got there today and they showed us a lot of stuff," Maye said. "They showed us the academic stuff. We toured the campus and got to hang out with the coaches. We got to see what everyday life was like for the players there. I got to see a lot of things I wanted to see. I had a good time. Talking with all the coaches they told me some good things I wanted to hear. It was a great day overall.

"The Auburn tradition and the family there," he said is what stood out to him. "I felt really welcome there. They showed me a lot of things. I just felt welcome. It felt like it was a family there. The Auburn family was what I thought it would be."

One of the highlights of the day according to Maye was having the chance to sit down with the head coach and the coach he would play for if he chose the Tigers.

Taking in both Auburn and Alabama on consecutive days, Maye had the opportunity to see the last two national champions and compare them side by side. He said both showed him why they are at the top and among the top programs in the country.

"Obviously they are both big-time programs and big-time schools," Maye said. "They showed everything they needed to show. It's just a matter of making a decision once time is due. They are pretty close and it was pretty good."

"Coach Chizik is a great guy," Maye said. "We talked about football as well. We talked about everything outside of football. We talked about what Auburn has to offer. Sitting down with him was a key thing. It was a highlight of today.

"We hung out all day today," he added of Thigpen. "We got to talk to each other. We talked about football. Talked about outside of football. Everything was pretty well. We connected real well."

Saying that he'll either make his decision before or after his senior year, Maye currently has eight offers with a top group of Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Miami, Auburn, and LSU. Taking visits to as many as possible, he noted he hopes to get a feel for each one so he can make an educated decision.

"It's very important because you want to go somewhere you feel comfortable," Maye said. "You want to see what other schools bring (to the table). It's very important for me to get out and see a lot of places. I took a visit to Alabama yesterday. That was well. It was pretty much the same thing there. Overall it was a pretty good trip to Alabama and Auburn. Everything was what I expected."